Ignition for Education

In previous posts, I’ve considered aspects of good teaching, including the importance of interactive pedagogies, teaching as the organization of guided practice, classroom management, and curriculum planning. I’ve also recommended an important article on what research tells us about effective teaching. Those posts give thoughts on how to BE a good teacher, but how does one BECOME a good teacher? This post focusses on the process, rather than the result, because that’s where every teacher’s focus should be.

A part of the answer is sheer hard work, of course. Becoming a good teacher involves striving to improve one’s instruction, assessment, relationships with students and parents, and so on. The other, more important part is humility, which enables one to reevaluate one’s vision, attitudes, and practices. Most importantly, humility allows one to listen carefully to reasoned critiques, whether these come from colleagues, school leaders, or any other credible source.

Without humility, teachers get stuck in ruts. They’ve figured out their teaching mojo, and nothing on earth is going to shift them from it. But to become a good teacher, it’s necessary to question oneself. Are your students engaged? Do your assessments show that they are meeting your learning objectives? Do they appear to feel safe and valued? Even if the answer to all of these questions is yes, there may still be ways in which you can improve your craft. Could you do more to engage the visual learners? Are the weakest students able to fully engage, or could you do more for them? Are there additional skills that you could target, or ways of introducing higher level concepts for the advanced learners? These are just a few questions that a largely successful teacher might still profit from asking themselves.

However, one doesn’t have to rely entirely on oneself to find one’s shortcomings and growth areas. And thank goodness, because that’s not something human beings are very good at. We need each other to point out where we need to grow. I’ve benefitted from encouragement to vary my pedagogical toolkit, which led me to include more visual, performative, kinesthetic, and creative activities; to more thoroughly scaffold my research, writing, and public speaking activities; to allow more “wiggle room” in my classroom management while still maintaining high standards.

Of course, bad advice can happen. I received a fair amount of it at the start of my career. I was teaching rich kids, and many of their parents wanted easy A’s. They barraged the administration if they didn’t get what they wanted, and I was continually “advised” to lower my standards. I resisted the pressure because I knew that doing so would not have helped my students to grow.

Nonetheless, a good teacher is not something that one IS; it is something that one continually BECOMES. Good teachers question themselves. They are open to well-reasoned feedback, and they receive it with humility. And they grow.